Twyford not upfront about Ministerial meeting

Phil Twyford’s omission of a high-powered meeting from his
Ministerial diary shows he subscribes to the Clare Curran
theory of openness and transparency, National’s
spokesperson for Local Government (Auckland) Denise Lee
says.

“The Housing and Urban Development Minister
met with Environment Minister David Parker and Auckland
Mayor Phil Goff on March 2, 2019. This meeting was included
in Minister Parker’s diary release but not Phil
Twyford’s.

“In response to an Official
Information Act request for documents relating to the
meeting, Mr Twyford claimed the alleged documents did not
exist.

“But a response to a similar request from
Minister Parker’s office showed it was in fact Phil
Twyford who called this meeting to discuss Auckland’s
rural-urban boundary. Furthermore, it was stated this was to
be a ‘political meeting with no officials’.

“It appears Mr Twyford deliberately omitted a meeting
from his Ministerial diary release to hide a potentially
controversial work programme. It also begs the question:
what criteria does the Minister use to decide whether the
meeting is ‘political’ or not.

“No sensible
person could argue this was not a meeting of extreme
relevance to his Ministerial responsibilities. Mr Twyford
should have been upfront about it and included it in his
diary release.

“The fact he wanted no officials to
attend – and claims his office holds no official
information relating to a meeting he initiated – shows he
clearly wanted to keep this meeting out of the
limelight.

“How many other meetings relevant to
his Ministerial responsibilities has he left out of an
information release due to them being ‘political’
meetings?

“During Question Time in Parliament
today, Mr Twyford claimed his omission was an error that had
been corrected. Yet after Question Time there still appeared
to be no mention of the meeting in his Ministerial diary
available online.

“This Government declared it
would be the most open and transparent New Zealand had ever
seen. Mr Twyford’s actions are further proof it is
anything
but.”

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